Cycling Becomes More Inclusive: Tour de France's First Africa Team Stands Tall at the Podium

Two years ago, sports documentary “Rising from Ashes,” cataloged the journey of American cyclist Jock Boyer who moved to Kigali to help produce Rwanda's first national cycling team for the 2012 Olympic Games. Yet, in this year’s Tour de France, which has the first African cycling team to date, there isn’t a single Rwandan rider. Cycling has been predominantly a European sport with the recent addition of more American cyclists and a growing craze for bicycling at home in the US. Yesterday, however, the African team, sponsored by South Africa’s telecom giant MTN, got some solid air time. Eritrean rider Daniel Teklehaimanot, 26, was in the lead breakaway for much of the race and garnered the polka dot jersey (for the most mountain points). He was the first black African cyclist to take the podium at the end of the stage, which followed the French coastline from Abbeville to Le Havre.